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Thursday, 7 June 2012

Triple Coconut Brownies with Lindt Coconut Creation

A while ago I promised that I would tell you in great detail about this fabulous chocolate...and now is the time! Let me take you back to December last year, I had gone down to London for a day of fun with my sister. We did what we always do, stuff our face with cupcakes and find as many yummy treats as possible! We found ourselves on the Kings Road because I was sourcing out some yummy Reese's ingredients from Partridge's. For some reason, and I can't even remember why but we wondered into the Waitrose they have there...and that's when we found it! It was my sister Mara who spotted it and as I realised what it was she was pointing at there may or may not have been squeals of delight! We picked up a bar immediately and promptly headed to the till. The only problem was, like I said, we had been stuffing our faces all day so we were too full at the time to eat the whole thing but we did each take one square of chocolate to try and it was amazing!!

I want you to think of those Kinder sticks that you get, which just so happen to be a favourite childhood chocolate of mine. They never used to sell them in England back in the day so they remind me of the last day of our summer holidays spent in France when we would head to the supermarche, take a mini kid sized trolley for a spin and fill it up with a stash of Kinder sticks that would last us for the next little while!

Imagine that lovely creamy filling that you get in them, and then imagine that it's coconut flavour and sandwiched between a superior quality milk chocolate like Lindt? Is your mouth watering just a little at the thought? because let me tell you after that first taste I spent many a night dreaming about this chocolate bar! The reason I had to dream is because ever since that day in December, I have hunted it down in every Lindt store and Waitrose I can find to no avail! I tried the Waitrose in Angelsey (the only one in North Wales) and there was no Coconut Lindt in sight, I tried three different Waitrose stores when I went to visit my parents in Shropshire. It became like that book hunt in the film Serendipity, where he couldn't not walk past a used book store without checking to see if the book with her phone number in was in there. I couldn't walk past a Waitrose without going in to see if my new favourite chocolate was lurking in there, even when I would see those little mini Waitrose stores you get now and I knew deep down they would never stock it I would still have to check!

It was getting rather desperate! I'd even tried to track it down online and on ebay and was drawing a blank. When I had first got my hands on that bar in December my intentions had been to bake up something delicious with it, but it was so delicious that I just couldn't stop eating it when I got home from London and it disappeared rather quickly! So imagine my delight when after 5 months of hunting for it, I ended up in quite a large Waitrose in Ampthill when visiting my mother-in-law and I finally found it again! If I could have bought their whole supply right then I would have but being a poor student 2 bars was all I could afford!

and then I set to work thinking of the most delicious thing I could think to bake in order to showcase the true yumminess of this chocolate bar! and this is what I came up with - fudgy chocolate brownies, filled with a layer of shredded coconut and condensed milk filling, and upon removing them from the oven I placed individual squares of the Lindt Coconut chocolate all over them and let them melt their magic into the top of the brownies.

You know when things turn out even better then how you had planned in your head? well this bake was one of those! With each bite you got a rich fudgy brownie, a chewy creamy mouthful of coconut from the filling, a crisp crunch from the surface of the brownie and a taste of silky smooth creamy coconut filling followed by some ooey gooey melted chocolate - hmmm: most definitely the best brownie that has ever been made by my hands.

If you're a coconut lover then you need these in your life - and you need that chocolate bar in your life for sure! So for now I can guarantee that if you go to Waitrose on the King's Road or in Ampthill you will find it...if anyone else has any rare Coconut Creation Lindt sightings then let me know!

Butter the sides and bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan and line it with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour salt and cocoa powder together. Set aside.

Put the chocolate and butter in a large bowl and set it over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and smooth. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water and add the sugars. Whisk until completely combined, then remove the bowl from the pan. The mixture should be room temperature.

Add 2 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk to combine, add the remaining eggs and whisk again. Add the vanilla and coconut milk and stir until combined. Do not overbeat the batter at this stage or your brownies will be cakey (and that is something no brownie should ever have to go through).

Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture. Using a rubber spatula (not a whisk) fold the flour mixture into the chocolate until just a bit of the flour mixture is visible.

Pour half the batter into the prepared pan. Smooth the top. Mix the shredded coconut and condensed milk together in a medium sized bowl. Spread this mixture on top of the brownie mix. Pour the remaining half of the brownie batter on top of the coconut filling and smooth the top.

Bake in the centre of the oven for 28-30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Break the Lindt Coconut Chocolate into individual pieces and gently press each piece into the top of the brownie. Leave the chocolates to melt into the brownie for 5 or so minutes. Leave the brownies to cool completely, then lift them out of the pan using the parchment paper. Cut into squares and serve.

Sit back, eat, gorge, indulge, and wonder how you have lived for so long without these beauts in your life?!

Oh Gem, these look heavenly! I do love the coconut and chocolate combination. It's really frustrating when you find something in one branch of a supermarket, but your own local one doesn't stock it - I've had it happen to me! Will definitely keep an eye out for these Lindt bars though, as they sound delicious. :)

Yes I'm sorry Ros, coconut is just dominating the blog these days! not so good for you at all but I like where you're going with your idea - peanut butter would be amazing! you could put a layer of peanut butter in the middle instead of the shredded coconut filling and I bet pressing some Reese's peanut butter cups into the top of the batter would make a yummy alternative!

I don't do things by halves..if I can triple a favourite ingredient in something I bake there's every chance I'll do it, in fact I have a few too many recipes on here with the word 'triple' in the title!

Yes it's all about the whole squares! I actually saw the idea on someone else's blog and was like 'why have I never thought to do that before'! It was so fun watching the chocolate melt into the brownie! and a rather painstaking few minutes to have to restrain myself from not eating them during the process!

Great story; love how enthusiastic you get about chocolate and coconut - you remind of someone ;-) These brownies sound incredibly delicious; I just have to make these! Don't know if I can get my hands on that fab chocolate though... hope so!

Haha I just can't help myself with getting carried away! Well Daisy below can get it in Australia and another friend of mine has seen it in Switzerland so you may be in with a chance! You could always make these and just place regular chocolate squares on top if the Lindt is proving tricky to track down!

Hehe wow I'm super jealous! half price...I think I'd buy 20 bars if it was half price at my local shop! you definitely should do it Daisy - I promise you they're easy...the only place you could go wrong is over beating the mix or over baking it when in the oven so as long as you keep the stirring to a minimum and check on them regularly in the oven all should be well! I have faith in you!